Want You To Want Me
by xmjcx
Summary: Bethyl AU. Beth never intended to catch feelings for anyone other than Zach, but when his colleague, Daryl Dixon, first catches her eye, the blonde finds that try as she might, there's nothing she can do to shake him. Those feelings soon begin to develp and despite thinking that things can't work out well at all, Beth still can't help but chase the youngest Dixon down. Rated M.


**Just a little one shot that I couldn't get out of my head, so I just _had_ to write it.**

 **I'm not sure if it's obvious or not, but I love this pairing.**

* * *

You could say a lot of things about Beth Greene.

You could say that she was young and naive, wide eyed with a mostly innocent perspective on the world; and she would probably accept that.

You could say that she was happy and somewhat child-like, excitable and enthusiastic about even the little things; and she would probably agree.

You could say that she was cheerful and graceful and elegant, with a beautiful voice and a heart of gold; and she would probably laugh, her cheeks tinted pink as she ducked her head low.

There are a lot of things that you could say about Beth Greene and she would probably never even shoot you down, but if there was one thing that she was _not,_ it was a cheater.

With that fact in mind, she still found that no matter how much she tried to stop the feelings from occurring, Beth Greene was becoming less and less interested in her boyfriend, Zach.

Whilst he began to irritate and smother her, she found that no matter how hard she tried to ignore it at first, she was _definitely_ becoming more and more attracted to a surly man that he just so happened to work with.

* * *

"What are you doin' tonight, babe?"

Beth tried her hardest not to roll her eyes even though she knew that Zach couldn't see her from the other end of the line. Resisting basic urges around him was becoming more than just a bad habit now - she could probably even class it as instinct, by now.

In particular, she found that she was correcting behaviour that would demonstrate annoyance and frustration. Breathing calmly instead of giving out long sighs, closing her lids or blinking rapidly instead of rolling her eyes.

"I think I might be seeing Maggie tonight," she said.

 _Liar._

Okay, maybe it was a _little_ bit of a lie. Just a white lie, though. Beth reasoned with herself that it was kind of the truth - or well, it could be.

She just had to actually ask her sister whether she wanted to do anything, first.

"Oh," Zach said, and Beth could hear the disappointment in his tone. "Oh. Okay. I was gonna ask if you wanted to swing round my end an' hang out."

Beth felt awful. Truly, she did. But no matter what she did, it seemed like Zach _really_ didn't want to take the hint.

She had blown him off dozens of times in the past few weeks and had even mentioned that maybe they should take a break because she was so busy with working at the preschool and had a lot of planning to do over the holidays. But Zach was persistent and had insisted that he understood that she was busy and they could work around it.

The problem was, Beth didn't want to work around it and it was annoying as hell that Zach didn't seem to want to take the hint. Maggie had advised that Beth just outright break up with him, but Beth had never been as cold and hard as her sister and wasn't sure that she could deal with Zach kicking up a fuss over it. When Beth explained that to her, though, Maggie just snorted and shook her head and suggested that maybe she could break up with Zach on Beth's behalf.

Maggie had thought that her teasing was hilarious and had laughed for what had felt like forever, but Beth didn't find it very funny at all.

"I'm sorry, Zach," Beth said, and that was actually the truth.

Because really, she was sorry.

She was sorry that she wasn't as in to him as he was to her.

She was sorry that this relationship - which started off (on her part) as a fun fling, something to pass the time and a chance to get to know someone new after the disaster that had been Jimmy - had burned out in this manner.

She was sorry that she had no real option anymore; it was evident that Zach wasn't going to let this go, and that she was going to have to meet him eventually (and probably soon) and that she was going to have to end this, once and for all.

More than anything, she was sorry that she was going to have to hurt him. If there was one more thing that Beth Greene was not, it was mean; and she wasn't sure that she could honestly stomach the thought of hurting anyone - Zach included.

But being with him like this was hurting him, too. And even if he didn't know about her secret crush on his colleague - hell, even _Maggie_ didn't know about that - she knew that it would hurt him, too.

Because Beth wasn't so sure that she could push those feelings away any more.

* * *

"I ain't doin' this, Beth," Daryl mumbled.

Beth knew that he was struggling with this just as much as she was. She could hear it in the way that his voice wavered as he said the words, she could see it in his pained expression. Verbally, he was pushing her away; but his hands were still resting on her hips and his face was still so _close._

She swallowed down the lump in her throat and nodded her head slowly, finally looking away from his lips and glancing up at his eyes. Beth had thought that diverting her gaze would slow the pounding of her heart and ease the desire that she felt, but if anything, it just seemed to make it even worse.

"Daryl," she said in almost a whisper, taking a tiny move so that she was closer to him.

One of the tools that he was holding in his hands fell to the floor with a loud clatter, but neither of them flinched at the sound. Beth's breathing was heavy and she could feel his chest rising and falling beneath the flat of her palms and it thrilled her to know that she caused the same reactions in him that he caused in her.

Daryl pushed further back towards the wall so that his back was firmly pressed against it now. There was nowhere else for him to move to, no option for him to carry on backing up and putting more distance between them.

"We can't do this," he said, his voice low. "It ain't right."

 _It is,_ Beth thought, and she so desperately wanted to say it. _It is, it is, it is._

"You ain't thinkin' straight. You don't know what you -"

"Beth?"

And with that, the spell was broken.

Beth jumped on the spot but didn't move away from her position, just turned her head over her neck. Daryl's hands flew away from where they were positioned on her hips and fell to his sides as though her skin had burned him.

"Zach," Beth breathed, her blue eyes wide. "I - What are you -"

"What are you doin' here?" Zach asked, speaking over her as his eyes flickering between Beth and Daryl. "Nobody said you were lookin' for me."

 _Because I'm **not.**_

"I -"

"Wanna come round to my bay?" he asked, tilting his head in the opposite direction.

Beth turned her head back to face Daryl and gave him a long glance before she turned back to face Zach and nodded her head quickly.

"See y'later," Beth mumbled to Daryl as she walked towards Zach, shrugging away from him when he reached his hand towards her. He gave her a questioning look, but didn't say anything as she followed him further into the garage, turning around to give Daryl another long look before he disappeared from her line of vision.

* * *

"And he just... accepted it?" Maggie asked, her brow furrowed.

Beth shrugged her shoulders before taking another long sip of her hot cocoa.

"Guess so," she said, her eyebrows raised as she spoke.

Maggie nodded at that and took a sip of her own drink.

"Told ya it wouldn't be so bad if you jus' got it over with," she said matter-of-factly.

"I know," Beth sighed, wrapping her hands around her mug and looking down at the creamy liquid. "I guess I just... I needed a push."

That caught her sister's attention.

"A push?" Maggie repeated, brows furrowed. Beth nodded her head once and tried to look casual.

Obviously, it didn't work.

"What sorta push?"

Beth didn't say anything as she took another sip of her drink, suddenly finding an old family picture that hung on the wall of the kitchen _very_ interesting. Beth must have been around fourteen or fifteen at the time.

It felt like that was _so_ long ago - a time when her parents and her brother were still alive, when her and Maggie weren't the only Greene's left in town. A time before boys and complicated feelings and breaking hearts.

"Beth?" Maggie said, causing Beth's eyes to flicker back to her sister. Maggie looked at her for a long second before she repeated her original question. "What sorta push?"

Beth sighed, her shoulders sagging as she shook her head. When she looked back at Maggie - who was staring her down with a don't-mess-with-me expression - she realised that there was no way she was getting out of this.

"It's a long story," Beth said in a warning tone, and Maggie just shuffled a little in her seat, making herself more comfortable. Beth gave her a pointed look before she began to explain everything: from the beginning.

* * *

"Dar _yl_ ," Beth groaned.

She could practically feel him smirking against her breast and then his mouth was back on hers as her hands fumbled with the buckle of his belt. Beth knew where this was going and sure, she'd had sex before, but never like _this._

Never with someone she barely knew but had wanted so badly for so long. Never with someone she'd never even been on a date with, and never in the back seat of someone's truck.

As if he could read her mind (more so he could probably sense her hesitation), Daryl broke their kiss in a swift movement and pressed his forehead against hers, his hands grasping at her wrists almost too tightly in a bid to still her movements.

"Wha-"

"Not here," he mumbled against her lips before carefully nudging her from his lap.

Before Beth could even question his sudden change of heart, Daryl was putting his foot on the gas and speeding away from where they were parked up outside the garage.

* * *

"Fuck, _Beth_ ," Daryl groaned as he entered her, and Beth would have never have thought that someone could make her name sound sexy before _him._

But here he was, making her name sound like the sexiest thing on the planet. And Beth was loving every minute of it.

His fingers were grasping tightly at her hips and Beth knew that he would probably leave bruises there, but she would wear them proudly as a physical reminder of their time spent together.

He had stilled inside her to allow her to become more adjusted to his size and before Beth even realised what he was doing, Daryl was moving inside her. She gasped at the sensation and groaned as he began to pound himself inside of her, although it came out less as a moan and more of a heavy pant.

"Da-Daryl, _please,"_ she begged.

Daryl was drilling relentlessly against the spot deep inside her and the action made her confident she would lose herself in him and soon. Beth mewled in approval when his fingers weaved in between their bodies and spread her folds apart so that his thumb could press down against her clit, her hips bucking at the sudden contact and her legs tightening where they were wrapped around his waist.

"You like that, huh?" he mumbled into her ear, and Beth shivered against his bare chest.

 _"Shit,_ _"_ she hissed, her brows furrowing together as he continued to pound inside of her.

His breathing was becoming ragged and Beth knew from the way that his rhythm was becoming less and less controlled that Daryl was almost as close to the edge as she was.

"What d'ya need?" he asked, his voice low against the column of her neck as he placed open-mouth kisses against the exposed and sensitive flesh.

"I -" Beth started, not really sure of what it was that she needed to push her over the edge. "I - Daryl, I -"

"Beth," he said, his voice giving it away to her: he was _close._

Beth opened her mouth to try and say something but before she could, Daryl's free hand crept up and grabbed at her hair. He wrapped the strands around his fist and tugged on it, causing her head to lop to the side in the direction that he was pulling her.

He kept his hand there and loosened the pressure ever so slightly and before Beth knew it, her legs were shaking and her breathing was ragged and his fingers pressing down on her clit again was all she needed to tumble over the edge.

She wasn't sure how long she was trembling for and shouting out incoherent words into the darkness of Daryl's bedroom, but sometime during that period, Daryl had chased down his own released and spilled himself of her. He had collapsed onto her chest, his head buried into her neck and his hands wrapped firmly around her waist.

Time became something that Beth didn't care much for anymore and so she couldn't put her finger on how long that they stayed in that position for, but eventually Daryl rolled himself from on top of her so that he was lay on his front next to her.

It was then that for the first time since they had started kissing that Beth felt _awkward._ She had never had a one night stand before - _was this what this was?_ she wasn't sure - although she had heard about them plenty enough from Maggie, and she knew that usually one person left after the deed was done.

But the way that Daryl's arm was lazily stretched across her stomach and the way he was peering at her with one eye open made her think that maybe he didn't want her to leave. Maybe he wanted her to stay.

She stared at him for a long moment, both of their chests still heaving up and down but in a much slower motion than before, and Beth only relaxed when his lips turned upwards in a small smile. It wasn't much; but then again, this was Daryl Dixon - so that little smile was pretty much everything she could ask for in that moment. Beth wasted no time leaning towards him and pressing a chaste kiss against his lips.

"Got anywhere to be?" Daryl asked quietly, and Beth just shook her head no. He stared at her for a few seconds before nodding his head.

"Want me to stay here?"

Beth's voice was nervous as she spoke and he could probably tell, but he didn't do anything to let her know that he could tell. He licked his lips in a slow motion before nodding his head once.

"Reckon so," he said, and Beth couldn't help the grin that spread across her face before she captured his lips in a kiss once more.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


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